Peer assessment actively engages peers in the formative assessment and evaluation of
work produced by a peer. This thesis explores how social processes, such as classroom
talk, influence the quality of children’s learning in more interactive contexts of PA.
This focus is needed since children often find PA challenging as they may not have the
interpersonal skills to collaborate effectively leading them to use talk ineffectively as a
tool for learning. This research was interventionist and children in the year three and
four classes I taught received Thinking Together lessons as a strategy to enhance the
quality of their talk in contexts of peer assessment. Methods used to examine the
impact of the talk intervention, and to gain greater insights into the role that the social
context plays in peer assessment, included transcribed digital audio recordings, open
ended observations, semi-structured interviews, mind maps and children’s work.
Qualitative data were analysed using thematic coding analysis whilst data in
transcripts were quantitatively analysed to calculate the frequency of words and
phrases associated with exploratory talk before and after the intervention. Findings
suggest that children’s characteristics influence the way they communicate in contexts
of PA and some of the most challenging learners seemed to benefit most from the talk
intervention in terms of its influence on their ability to collaborate, hypothesise and
reason throughout the peer assessment tasks. The findings also draw attention to
previously under-researched PA social processes such as discussion, negotiation and
peer questioning that lead to outcomes for learners such as self assessment. The main
conclusions drawn are that more interactive kinds of peer assessment might be viewed
as a differentiated and discursive practice where teachers consider the various needs of
learners, based on their individual characteristics, and provide appropriate support so
they are able to collaborate and use language for mediating effective PA practice.